Summary: A redevelopment of almost 50 acres in Santa Clara at the corner of Tasman Way and Great America Parkway is proposed. Multiple tall buildings including at least one 50 story office building (estimate 650-700 feet tall) and at least one 35-story residential apartment building are "envisioned". Space for up to 17,000 workers along with 6,000 residential units, 600,000 sq. ft. retail space, 400,000 SF hotel space.
Link to this post: http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2018/06/50-story-office-building-in-santa-clara.html
Link to this post: http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2018/06/50-story-office-building-in-santa-clara.html
This is what a 50-story office building looks like:
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| CitiCorps Building, Queens Borough, NYC from: http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/one-court-square/1651 |
More on above building here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Court_Square
A 35 story apartment building in Houston (click image to enlarge):
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| 35 story Apt. Building, Houston TX 2 BR Apts $3,834 to $5,098 https://2929weslayan.com/residences |
Area in Santa Clara for Proposed Development:
Yellow Boxed Area Below (click image to enlarge)
From invitation received:
"Community Meeting
When: Saturday, June 9, 10am - 12pm
"How to Help
Attend this CSV-led community meeting to share your vision for what this site and greater-neighborhood could become.
If you looked at the invitation (no longer up) you find the following phrase: "Office buildings may reach 50 stories, and residential up to 35 stories". See following "screen grab" (click to enlarge)
The tallest building in San Jose is 22 floors. C.f., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_San_Jose,_California
Area To Be Developed
3005 Democracy Way, Santa Clara, CA
"Kylli intends to retain the plans for the 3.06 million square feet of offices, but now wants to add 3,500 residential units and an unspecified amount of retail space to the property, according to the proposal" with more details on project here:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/29/chinese-developer-plans-mixed-use-village-offices-homes-retail-santa-clara-yahoo-leeco/
https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/29/chinese-developer-plans-mixed-use-village-offices-homes-retail-santa-clara-yahoo-leeco/
The above estimate of 3M SF office space and 3,500 residential units has been increased to 3.5M SF office space and 6,000 residential units (see below).
A video of the Santa Clara June 2, 2018 "State of the City" meeting has a resident asking about this development at approx. 42:30 on the video. The resident notes the original proposal from the developer was for 60 stories and seems to have been scaled down to 40 stories. He expresses concern for traffic and schools. The answer from Mayor Lisa Gilmor continues to 46:30 and mentions schools with very limited space for play. The video is here:
Santa Clara City documents (very favorable to plan amendment):
Staff slide presentation: http://santaclaraca.gov/home/showdocument?id=56151
Text: http://santaclaraca.gov/home/showdocument?id=56153 ,
http://santaclaraca.gov/government/departments/community-development/planning-division/development-activity/proposed-development-project-page-kylli
The above documents do not specifically mention the height of the proposed buildings.
Notes:
The Apple "spaceship" headquarters is 2.8M sq. ft and was intended originally to hold 13,000 office workers. Generally one estimates around 200 sq. ft. to 250 sq. ft. per office worker, so 3.5M sq. ft = 14,400 to 17,500 workers (average 16,000). Nothing indicates how the additional workers (16,000 workers - 6,000 residents = 10,000 commuters minimum) will be getting to the proposed office building. Presumably they will be added to existing transportation systems.
The 6,000 housing units in 6,000,000 sq. ft. works out to 1,000 sq. ft. per apt. or condo. That is a 2 or 3 bedroom apt. If each bedroom has one person, that is 12,000 to 18,000 (average 15,000) residents. If everyone who lived there was a worker (no children or seniors) who also worked there, everyone could walk to work. Except of course there will be children, retirees, etc.
Further, census data indicates only about 10% to 15% of residents of a city in Silicon Valley work in the city they live in. For example, in Cupertino only 9% of those who live there work in Cupertino. Cf., http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2017/07/cupertino-work-live-commute.html .
Similar ratios are seen in Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto:
Snyvl: http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2016/12/live-work-commute-1.html
Mtn Vu: http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2017/07/mountain-view-work-live-commute.html
P.A. http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2018/01/palo-alto-work-live-commute.html
There is the additional issue of employment multipliers. If 15,000 new residents move in, they will require teachers for their kids, mechanics for their cars, doctors and nurses, firemen, police, plumbers, waiters, etc., etc. This has been studied and found to be about 4 additional jobs for every primary worker. MIT's Sloan Review summarizes it here: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-multiplier-effect-of-innovation-jobs/ This means the 15,000 new residents will generate an additional 60,000 jobs for a total of 75,000 workers. For every worker there is at least one non-worker (child, senior, etc.) so we are looking at a total of 150,000 new residents somewhere within commute distance.
A video of the Santa Clara June 2, 2018 "State of the City" meeting has a resident asking about this development at approx. 42:30 on the video. The resident notes the original proposal from the developer was for 60 stories and seems to have been scaled down to 40 stories. He expresses concern for traffic and schools. The answer from Mayor Lisa Gilmor continues to 46:30 and mentions schools with very limited space for play. The video is here:
10.5M Sq. Ft. of Floor Space
3.5M Office Space, 6M Residential space, 1M Retail and Hotel
 |
| From Developer's presentation to Santa Clara City Council http://santaclaraca.gov/home/showdocument?id=56149 |
Staff slide presentation: http://santaclaraca.gov/home/showdocument?id=56151
Text: http://santaclaraca.gov/home/showdocument?id=56153 ,
http://santaclaraca.gov/government/departments/community-development/planning-division/development-activity/proposed-development-project-page-kylli
The above documents do not specifically mention the height of the proposed buildings.
Notes:
The Apple "spaceship" headquarters is 2.8M sq. ft and was intended originally to hold 13,000 office workers. Generally one estimates around 200 sq. ft. to 250 sq. ft. per office worker, so 3.5M sq. ft = 14,400 to 17,500 workers (average 16,000). Nothing indicates how the additional workers (16,000 workers - 6,000 residents = 10,000 commuters minimum) will be getting to the proposed office building. Presumably they will be added to existing transportation systems.
The 6,000 housing units in 6,000,000 sq. ft. works out to 1,000 sq. ft. per apt. or condo. That is a 2 or 3 bedroom apt. If each bedroom has one person, that is 12,000 to 18,000 (average 15,000) residents. If everyone who lived there was a worker (no children or seniors) who also worked there, everyone could walk to work. Except of course there will be children, retirees, etc.
Further, census data indicates only about 10% to 15% of residents of a city in Silicon Valley work in the city they live in. For example, in Cupertino only 9% of those who live there work in Cupertino. Cf., http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2017/07/cupertino-work-live-commute.html .
Similar ratios are seen in Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto:
Snyvl: http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2016/12/live-work-commute-1.html
Mtn Vu: http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2017/07/mountain-view-work-live-commute.html
P.A. http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2018/01/palo-alto-work-live-commute.html
There is the additional issue of employment multipliers. If 15,000 new residents move in, they will require teachers for their kids, mechanics for their cars, doctors and nurses, firemen, police, plumbers, waiters, etc., etc. This has been studied and found to be about 4 additional jobs for every primary worker. MIT's Sloan Review summarizes it here: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-multiplier-effect-of-innovation-jobs/ This means the 15,000 new residents will generate an additional 60,000 jobs for a total of 75,000 workers. For every worker there is at least one non-worker (child, senior, etc.) so we are looking at a total of 150,000 new residents somewhere within commute distance.
FAA Regulations on Height:
There was some thought that the FAA would limit building heights in the development but apparently not. A member of the public noted that FAA regulations limit the height of buildings within certain distances of an airplane runway:
"This plan puts it right in SJC 12R approach / 30L takeoff zones where heights above 200ft are obstructions. Federal Aviation Regulations, FAR 77.23(a)(2), Obstruction Standards, Criteria:"
"An object would be an obstruction to air navigation if the object has a height greater than 200 feet above ground at the site, or above the established airport elevation, which ever is higher
(a) within 3 nautical miles of the established reference point of an airport with its longest runway more than 3,200 feet in actual length and
(b) that height increases in proportion of 100 feet for each additional nautical miles from the airport reference point up to a maximum of a 500 feet"
However, upon further investigation the same individual found that:
"The FAA allows obstructions to be built but they must be lighted for aircraft warning. Another part of the regulation defines an approach surface that the FAA does not want intruded on. I worked this out and it looks like a 600 ft building at that location would not intrude."
As the following picture shows,. the proposed site is 3 miles to San Jose's Mineta Airport's runways. (Click image to enlarge).
Flooding Due to Sea Level Rise
The area is projected by scientists to be abandoned between 2045 and 2100 due to frequent inundation (flooding) caused by sea level rise which in turn is caused by global warming. See map below:
A possible 3 ft rise by 2050 and a 6 ft. rise by 2070 is projected by a State of California commissioned scientific study. This is if the Antarctic Ice Sheets start melting, which they appear to be doing. The US Govt. NOAA "Sea Level Rise Viewer" projects this would look like the following maps below:
More on this here: http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2018/02/mother-nature-bats-last.html
and here: http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2017/04/bye-bye-shanghai.html
There was some thought that the FAA would limit building heights in the development but apparently not. A member of the public noted that FAA regulations limit the height of buildings within certain distances of an airplane runway:
"This plan puts it right in SJC 12R approach / 30L takeoff zones where heights above 200ft are obstructions. Federal Aviation Regulations, FAR 77.23(a)(2), Obstruction Standards, Criteria:"
"An object would be an obstruction to air navigation if the object has a height greater than 200 feet above ground at the site, or above the established airport elevation, which ever is higher
(a) within 3 nautical miles of the established reference point of an airport with its longest runway more than 3,200 feet in actual length and
(b) that height increases in proportion of 100 feet for each additional nautical miles from the airport reference point up to a maximum of a 500 feet"
However, upon further investigation the same individual found that:
"The FAA allows obstructions to be built but they must be lighted for aircraft warning. Another part of the regulation defines an approach surface that the FAA does not want intruded on. I worked this out and it looks like a 600 ft building at that location would not intrude."
As the following picture shows,. the proposed site is 3 miles to San Jose's Mineta Airport's runways. (Click image to enlarge).
Three miles from proposed site to runways
Flooding Due to Sea Level Rise
The area is projected by scientists to be abandoned between 2045 and 2100 due to frequent inundation (flooding) caused by sea level rise which in turn is caused by global warming. See map below:
 |
| https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Scientists-expect-floods-in-Bay-Area-from-rising-11284750.php |
2050 Sea Level Rise = 3 Feet
 |
| light blue areas are completely flooded at high tide. Green areas only partly flooded. https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/slr |
2070 Sea Level Rise = 6 Feet
 |
| https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/slr |
 |
| Produced by California Ocean Protection Council and the
California Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration
with the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research,
the California Energy Commission, and the California
Ocean Science Trust http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/docs/rising-seas-in-california-an-update-on-sea-level-rise-science.pdf |
More on this here: http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2018/02/mother-nature-bats-last.html
and here: http://meetingthetwain.blogspot.com/2017/04/bye-bye-shanghai.html
More about Catalyze here:
Text of email from "Catalyze" follows:
-------------------------------- included text begins -----------------
Alert Summary
Catalyze SV (CSV) is facilitating our first visioning workshop, focusing on a general plan amendment at 3005 Democracy Way - with 10.5 million-square-feet of mixed use proposed on a 49 acre site. Located along light rail, near Great American Parkway at Tasman, the Kylli project could also include 8 acres of ground-level open space (additional public spaces above ground level) and multiple tall buildings, some as high as 50 stories.
...
Who is overseeing the project?
No proposal yet submitted to City of Santa Clara Planning.
The project contact is: info@3005democracyway.com
Catalyze SV contact for meeting: engagement@CatalyzeSV.org
Background
The mostly vacant 49 acre site’s current entitlement allows for 3 million square feet of office. The proposed feasibility study underway looks at a site use of: 3.5 million square feet of office, 6 million square feet of residential (6,000 units), 600,000 square feet of retail/community amenities, 400,000 square feet of hotel, [ emphasis added, MG] 8 acres of ground-level green space/open space, and an additional 12 acres of green space/open space above ground-level. Office buildings may reach 50 stories, and residential up to 35 stories.
This project is in its early stages, still undergoing programming with only preliminary massing and schematic square footages. The developer, Kylli, has expressed interest in conducting a robust outreach effort for their precedent-setting proposal and Kylli has been receptive to CSV efforts to conduct our own independent outreach regarding this project.
The project received unanimous approval to begin the General Plan Amendment process to allow for changing the use from all commercial to other uses. We expect the General Plan Amendment to be heard later this year. After that, the project will go through the standard application and entitlement process. [emphasis added, mg]
...[deleted inconsequentials]
Yours in community,
Catalyze SV Board
www.CatalyzeSV.org
--------------------- end included text from Catalyze -----------------
